Sunday, April 3, 2011

While having dinner at a chinese restaurant last night with family, mum ordered threadfin a.k.a 馬友魚 as one of the dishes. The place was jam packed with families since it was weekend night. Even more scarier was that most of the tables was sit by at least 10 persons, kids included. Such big family feast....something I never get used to. I describe it as simply "messy affair". You know... the family members talking out their lungs about family politics, national issues debate, work related problems, while the children running around playing hide and seek and merry go-around.

I have to admit that I had never given second thought about what i put in my mouth most of the time, except for the calories intake, i guess. Example, try asking me to different this fish and that fish, this vegetable and that vegetable....i would most probably tell you they look almost the same, save for the more obvious ones :P

Threadfins are silvery grey perciform marine fish of the family Polynemidae in order Perciformes. Found in tropical to subtropical waters throughout the world, the threadfin family contains nine genera and 33 species. Threadfin has been used as a co-ingredient in creating Crab sticks. Treadfin are prized in restaurants because they are perfect for steaming, poaching and frying and are delicious when prepared Hawaiian, Oriental or European styles.

Apparently they are quite expensive too. The dish alone cost rm20 with the fish portion probably enough for 3 persons with average appetite. Really remind me of the chinese saying "吃米不知米貴“, literally means you don't know the price of the food you are ingesting. Well, to me it still tastes almost the same, hahaha....

Which bring to the question of ... Do u contribute part of your income for your family expenses? Things been getting more pricey year after year, hence family expenses would consequently be higher as well, just that your parents may choose to keep mum about it. Things will only get worse after GST implementation.

And by the way, have you paid your income tax? Just to remind that deadline is on 30 April for salaried workers. I just submitted mine. Too bad even after deducting everything I could, I still gotta pay to the gomen, bearing in mind that income tax in this country is much higher than even Singapore or Hong Kong. We are talking about difference of 23% vs 8%. So please dont overpay your taxes, and at the same time keep away from tax evasion, since the repercussion can be serious. One of my new goals would be : Zero tax post deduction for next year's assessment! :P